I don't think it can really infect them if they didn't know about the crime until recently. That being said, I understand your concern. Christians are meant to be built different, though. Jesus was a friend of sinners. We're not assumed to be corrupted because we hung around someone who was corrupt.

The way my church's denomination does it, when a pastor steps down, they pull in a new pastor from another church, which also alleviates this concern. I say this not to defend Gateway Church (their new pastor is the old pastor's son,) but to demonstrate that not all churches have the problems you hear about.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I'm aware of how other churches operate. "Not all churches, tho" isn't particularly relevant to the topic, and if you want to get into it, I have plenty to say about the Church as an institution. But that's not what I was referring to with my comment.

I wasn't implying that the congregants are somehow tainted by association or that they are somehow "secretly influenced to be pedophiles." What I meant is that I know for a fact that followers behave like their leaders, and he likely employed all kinds of mental gymnastics, scriptural torturing, and whatever other tricks to justify why he shouldn't face justice.

That influence is increased the closer you are to that leader, which is why it wouldn't surprise me if the leadership that was under him still contains the tendrils of his abusive influence and subsequently influences the congregants in lesser ways.